


The Trickster And The Thief

by MaliceManaged



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assumptions, Gen, Light Angst, Misunderstandings, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Screw You Marvel, i love that that's a tag, look i can't help what i am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23780362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaliceManaged/pseuds/MaliceManaged
Summary: In which Loki learns not to make assumptions about his friends.(I know that's a terrible summary but I am very tired)
Relationships: Loki (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s), Wanda Maximoff & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	The Trickster And The Thief

**Author's Note:**

> I _meant_ to work on the next chapter of Wedded Bliss, but my muse is an ass and this is what I wrote instead. At least it's not as traumatizing as the _last_ thing I wrote! XD

They had a thief in the Tower. This was no accident; it paid to have someone on hand who could easily acquire important things in hard-to-get-to places. Less helpful was the fact that the thieving was not limited to work. It wasn’t all that much of a problem, though, given the ultimately innocuous nature of the thefts.

Steve had been the first to notice. He had walked into the common room one day to find their thief curled up on a couch reading, wearing a familiar looking button down that was obviously too big for her. He didn’t think much of it at first; it wasn’t as though he had the monopoly on button down shirts, and he knew many people found comfort in wearing oversized clothes when lounging at home. It wasn’t until he looked through his closet to find his shirt was missing that he realised that actually  _ had _ been his shirt; though when he asked her about it, she’d merely grinned and told him that he would ‘have it back by Sunday’.

To her credit, she did give it back by Sunday. Or rather, he’d opened his closet on Sunday to find the shirt there, freshly laundered and exactly where he’d left it. And if he was a little unsettled by the fact that she had gotten in and out of his room without him noticing, and remembered the exact place the shirt had been in, he kept it to himself.

It soon became a trend, and she slowly started including the rest of the team in her temporary burglaries. They didn’t know how she did it - not even Natasha, which was shocking to everybody - but nobody really wanted to be the one to ask; she always gave the clothes back, clean and exactly where she had taken it from, and so they simply had to accept it (grudgingly or otherwise) as just her being… her.

****

Thor knew deep down that bringing his… arguably reformed brother to the Tower would cause…  _ friction, _ but things in Asgardia were too complicated for Loki to stay there, and frankly he’d just been too happy to find out his brother was alive again to care overmuch how his friends and teammates would feel about it. Their disposition towards the wayward prince thawed somewhat when they learned just how he had died (Thor had been very vague about it, and the haunted look he got when the subject was brought up was enough to dissuade everyone from pressing for details), but they still mostly treated him like he was a ticking time bomb one bad day away from going off. Loki, for his part, didn’t seem to care all that much; he was used to Thor’s friends only tolerating him as little as they could get away with for his brother’s sake, after all.

The only exception to this was the little brunette thief he knew only as Dani. (He was pretty sure that wasn’t her name, but it was what she’d introduced herself as and who was he to argue what name people chose for themselves?) She’d been polite enough from the start, nice even, and it had admittedly thrown him off a bit but he couldn’t say he altogether minded. Especially upon learning that they shared some interests in the way of enjoying reading and having a preference for more subtle forms of combat. There was something odd about her, he felt it from the start, but he just couldn’t put his finger on what it was. The better they got acquainted and he got more and more used to her, the more he just chalked it up to his general distrust of people and began mostly ignoring it.

He was just beginning to really get used to having a friend when… The Incident happened.

It had been a perfectly normal morning; he had wandered into the kitchen, lured by the scent of coffee and cinnamon, to find Dani standing at the counter stirring her cup. She bid him good morning with a smile that widened at his vague hum of acknowledgement as he beelined towards the coffee maker, and he was halfway through his cup before he really paid any proper attention to her. Once he did, though, his eyebrow arched as he took in her appearance; particularly what she was wearing…

“Is that my shirt?”

She grinned, a gesture that never failed to warm him by how sincere it was. “Yes, it is.”

“I see. And you are stealing my clothes, why?”

“I’m not. It’s only stealing if I don’t give it back,” she winked then set her empty cup in the sink and walked out of the room, cheerfully calling over her shoulder at the door, “I’ll have it back by Sunday!”

He looked after her completely bewildered, both at the fact that she had successfully gotten something of his without him knowing about it, and as to  _ why _ she would do so. Or at least why a shirt? He almost choked on his coffee when a possible reason for the action occurred to him: Could she possibly think there was something…  _ romantic _ between them? He wanted to dismiss the thought out of hand, but borrowing a shirt seemed rather intimate a thing, at least to his understanding, and they  _ had _ been spending a  _ lot _ of time together of late. Granted, most of it was simply sitting close to each other engrossed in their own books, but he’d also begun teaching her some of his techniques with daggers, which involved quite a bit of physical contact as he corrected her form. Could she have interpreted that as…?

“Oh, no,” he whispered into the empty kitchen, internally freaking out.

That wasn’t supposed to happen; he didn’t feel that way about her at all! She meant something to him, yes, but it was purely platonic. If she thought he was interested in her romantically… Well, obviously he’d have to tell her that she was wrong, but… that would mean breaking her heart. He didn’t want to have to do that; he cared about her, and it might very well cost him their friendship, which he had gotten quite attached to despite himself.

He was so caught up in his silent panicking that he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a cautious poke to his arm, turning to find a baffled Sam standing there. “What?” he snapped, largely annoyed at himself for getting caught so off guard.

“You’re blocking the coffee,” Sam replied, wondering if he should before asking, “You okay, man?”

“Fine,” Loki replied curtly, moving aside to place his cup in the sink before stalking away.

“And a good morning to you, too,” Sam muttered sarcastically.

***

Dani knew something was up with Loki the moment she saw him again, and she thought to ask him about it, but the almost panicky way he looked at her for a split second when she approached him gave her pause. Had he discovered her secret? She hoped not; she really liked him and didn’t want to have to do anything to him. But he didn’t say anything about it, and before long she was called to work, so she couldn’t ask. By the time she came back everything seemed to be back to normal, and so she dismissed the earlier weirdness as nothing.

She noticed, however, that the next few days he seemed to be suddenly quite busy. Or at least too busy to hang out with  _ her. _ It was a little hurtful, as she thought they were reasonably close, but apparently not. She shrugged it off, returning the shirt she’d borrowed from him earlier than she usually returned things, and decided to spend the day with Wanda instead. She’d been wrong before, and it was an easy fix; she could settle it later.

“Everything okay?” Wanda asked as they sat across from each other in the cozy little ice-cream parlour.

“Hm; just thinking,” Dani replied with a small smile.

“About Loki?” That got her a level look, and she raised her hands with a slight laugh. “I didn’t read your mind, I just noticed he’s been avoiding you. You guys were practically joined at the hip before; it stands out. Did something happen?”

“I don’t know,” Dani replied with a sigh, “He just got weird all of a sudden. If something’s wrong, he’s not talking about it.”

“You want me to find out for you?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I’ll fix it later.”

Wanda raised an eyebrow. “Should you do that to him? Is that safe?”

“He hasn’t noticed anything before,” she shrugged, “Should be fine.”

“Are you sure you have to? I thought you liked him.”

“I do, but I guess he doesn’t feel the same way. It’s for the best; I don’t want him to feel like he  _ has _ to be my friend just because I’ve been nice to him.”

Wanda snorted softly. “I can’t really imagine anyone being able to make him do anything he doesn’t want to, at least without mind control.”

“You can’t,” Dani confirmed easily, “Unless he feels like he owes you. He takes debts pretty seriously; I think it’s an Asgardian thing, at least in part.”

Wanda hummed. “You  _ are _ going to talk about it before you do anything, though, right?”

Dani rolled her eyes and flicked a sprinkle at her friend, earning a laugh. “Of course I am; who do you think you’re talking to?”

***

He only noticed his shirt was back after his shower, and was rather disturbed to know that Dani had once again been in his room without him knowing. He knew the woman was sneaky, it was her job after all, but that was ridiculous. Not even Romanoff could manage that, and she was one of the few people he’d ever met who could actually sneak up on him. It then occurred to him that it was Thursday, not Sunday, which was when Dani had promised to return the garment. Had she noticed his reaction to the theft? He thought he’d hid it pretty well, but maybe he hadn’t.

Had she assumed he was mad about it? It wouldn’t exactly be an unfair conclusion to come to, given that he was avoiding her. And she definitely had to have noticed  _ that, _ given how abrupt the distance had been. He would have preferred to be more subtle about it, but the whole thing had caught him so off guard; he didn’t really know how to deal with it. He felt an uncomfortable bit of guilt at the thought of her thinking he was angry with her, but considering the alternative, maybe it was for the best? It might make her reconsider her feelings without him having to actually say anything about it, and maybe then they could go back to normal.

That was his hope, at least, as he readied himself to leave for Asgardia. For once, he was actually glad that Thor still needed him to smooth over his diplomatic screw ups, fewer though they were becoming. He really was getting quite good at the whole ‘king’ thing; Loki could almost admit to being proud.

Almost. Couldn’t have it going to Thor’s head, now.

Once he’d arrived and the matter was dealt with, Thor practically dragged him to his chambers to ‘catch up’, though Loki couldn’t imagine there’d be that much to catch up on, given that Thor called him almost every day. The Thunderer had been awfully clingy since Loki had returned, but he figured (correctly) that it was simply Thor’s way of dealing with everything that happened. It wasn’t as though Loki really minded the attention, in any case; it was nice to be noticed and appreciated for a change. It was even nicer that it greatly irritated Sif.

It was comforting, in a way, how some things just never changed.

Eventually the conversation turned to how Loki was getting along with the other Avengers - Thor was considering delegating a bit so he could go visit soon - and Loki decided, for reasons he suspected had a lot to do with the amount of mead they’d been drinking, to bring up his little…  _ situation _ with Dani.

“You have known Dani for some time, have you not? You know her well?”

“Not as well as you, from what I have heard,” Thor replied then huffed amusedly, “The others are not certain whether to be concerned by how close you have become, or happy that she keeps you busy.” At Loki’s frown, he sat forward a bit. “Is something wrong?”

“I… There might be…”

After a moment’s silence, Thor rolled his eyes and somewhat sarcastically asked, “Care to elaborate?”

Loki shot him a glare, then huffed and sunk back into the couch. “I think she might have feelings for me.”

“Yes, friendship typically involves feelings, brother; I’m sure you will get the hang of it,” Thor teased, earning a lazy punch to the stomach that only made him laugh harder.

“You know exactly what I mean, you idiot.”

“Aye, I know what you mean, and I think you to be wrong; she is not the type.”

Loki’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean ‘not the type’?”

Thor shook his head. “That is for her to tell. I only know because I thought she might harbour feelings for me, and she corrected the assumption.”

“Is that why you think me wrong? Because she had the gall to not be in love with  _ you?” _ Loki scoffed.

“Why do you think she is in love with you?” Thor asked, ignoring Loki’s tone, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

“Well, the other day, she…” he paused, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed about the whole thing. Well, he couldn’t take it back now; Thor wouldn’t let him get away with that. He looked away and muttered, “She borrowed a shirt.” After a moment, Thor started chuckling, and he looked back up. “What?”

“You need to pay closer attention to our dear thief,” was all Thor replied.

“Meaning?”

“You’ll figure it out…”

And with that, Thor turned the conversation to other matters, much to Loki’s annoyance.

***

Loki looked for Dani as soon as he returned to the Tower a few days later, wanting nothing more than to get to the bottom of things and put the whole matter behind him. He had tried to get a better answer from Thor, but his brother surprised him by remaining firm in his decision to let him figure it out for himself despite his efforts.

She wasn’t on her floor, or their usual haunts, and so he resigned himself to actually asking for help. To that end, he sought out Maximoff, as she was the person Dani spent the most time with besides him. It took a bit of wandering, but eventually he came upon her waiting for the elevator in the lobby as he rode it down by mistake, hands holding several shopping bags, and he moved to make room for her.

“Have you seen Dani?” he asked after a moment as the elevator went up again.

Wanda gave him an odd look before realisation seemed to dawn on her. “No. Why?”

“That is not your concern,” he replied somewhat dismissively, “If you see her, let her know I must speak with her.”

Wanda frowned, clearly annoyed. “You can tell her yourself; I’m not your errand girl.”

He made to say something in response, but ultimately thought better of it. No sense in pissing her off more, especially given the risk it would get back to Dani. They rode the rest of the way in silence until they reached Wanda’s floor, into which the young woman stormed off without a backwards glance.

“That was rude,” Dani spoke up beside him, startling him badly.

“Fuck!” He turned to face her, noticing the shopping bags in her hands, and narrowed his eyes at her. “How did you do that?”

“You need to be nicer to Wanda,” she said instead, causing him to bristle.

“Oh, I  _ need _ to, do I? And why is that?”

“Because she hasn’t done anything to you, and she’s my friend,” Dani replied firmly. “Just because  _ you _ don’t want to be, doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole to her.”

That startled him in an entirely different way. “I…  _ What?” _

“Don’t talk to her like that. I’m not going to tell you again.”

And with that warning, she walked after Wanda, leaving him even more confused than he’d been before. He’d figured his sudden avoidance would have given her the impression that there was a problem between them, but to actually think that he didn’t want to be her friend? He sighed frustratedly; he’d really made a mess of things. Why did friendships have to be so damn complicated? Or was he simply that bad at them? He rode the elevator up to his floor, wondering how in Hel he was going to fix things.

***

Dani could tell Wanda was still quite annoyed when she walked into her room, and so she set her bags down, walked up behind her and wrapped her in a hug, resting her chin on her shoulder. Wanda laughed softly despite herself and tilted her head to rest against Dani’s, placing her hands on Dani’s arms and squeezing lightly in appreciation. Dani tightened the hug for a moment then stepped back, and they set about arranging their purchases of colourful yarns so to begin the project they had decided on.

“Why didn’t you let him see you?” Wanda asked after a while, frowning at her knitting as she noticed a mistake in her work.

“I didn’t know if he’d want to,” Dani replied, setting her project down and reaching over to adjust Wanda’s grip on her needles a bit, “It was easier than fixing it after.”

“Well, now you know he wants to talk to you. So talk to him.”

Dani frowned. “I don’t know if  _ I _ want to.”

“Why not?”

She was quiet for a moment, then admitted, “I think I got a little more attached to him than I realised. I don’t want to face that it’s over.”

“You don’t know that it is,” Wanda pointed out encouragingly, “Maybe he wants to apologise for getting all weird before.”

“And if that’s not it?” Dani countered, “I’m not good at losing people who matter.”

“Nobody is, Nerium,” Wanda said sadly, then set her knitting on her lap and reached over to take Dani’s hands in her own, “If it comes to that, I’ll help you.”

Dani squeezed Wanda’s hands in gratitude. She was infinitely glad they were friends; nobody understood her as well as she did. “Okay; I’ll talk to him,” she promised then picked up her knitting again, “In a few days. Let him stew for a bit.”

Wanda snorted and followed suit. She certainly wasn’t about to argue with  _ that _ plan. She usually had a pretty civil relationship with Loki, but he could be annoyingly condescending at times, which kind of made her want to throw him out a window. So she didn’t have the centuries of experience in his craft he was so fond of pointing out; at least  _ she _ could  _ fly. _

***

It took Loki three days to come up with what he hoped would be a good enough apology, and two more before he actually saw Dani again. He thought  _ he _ was good at avoiding people; if he hadn’t known better, he could have doubted she even  _ existed _ at times. As he waited for her to finish speaking to someone on the phone, he took in her appearance curiously. He was pretty sure he’d never seen her with the shawl she currently had draped over her shoulders, which wasn’t really odd in itself as she could have just recently gotten it, but for the fact that he could swear he’d seen it  _ somewhere _ before. Before he could really think about it further, she ended her call and turned to him, smiling slightly, which he took as a good sign.

“Hello, you,” she greeted, though not quite as warmly as he was used to, “Can I help you?”

“I was wondering if we could talk?”

“Sure. Your place or mine?”

“Mine.”

She nodded and followed him to the elevator, where he pressed the button for his floor. He didn’t say a word the whole trip to his room, but she didn’t press him for anything, which he appreciated. Once there, she promptly sat on his bed and looked at him expectantly.

“Dani, I wanted to apologise for my behaviour of late. Clearly it is worse than I realised if it led you to believe I do not wish to be your friend. Nothing could be further from the truth, I promise you.” He went over to his dresser and picked up a small box, going over to her and holding it out. “I got you this, as a gift. Or a peace offering, I suppose.”

She arched a brow then opened the box, a wide smile breaking out upon her face as she saw the contents. It was a pocket watch, silver with an intricate butterfly etched on it and inlaid with colourful crystals; she’d always loved pocket watches, though she couldn’t possibly explain why, and was always on the lookout to grow her collection. She set the watch aside then stood and hugged him. “I love it; thank you.”

“I’m sorry,” he said into her hair, returning her embrace, “It was not my intent to upset you.”

She squeezed him for a moment then stepped back, looking up at him confusedly. “What was this even about, anyway?”

“Well, it seems rather ridiculous now,” he muttered, looking away.

“Can’t be more ridiculous than the time Tony and I switched out Thor’s fake eye with a googly one.”

_ That _ got his attention. “You did  _ what?” _

“Oh, yeah. There’s pictures and video.”

“… You need to show me that.”

“Sure! As soon as you tell me what’s going on with you.”

He huffed, though in all honesty he should have expected that. “… I thought that you… had feelings for me,” he finally admitted embarrassedly, “Of the… romantic variety.”

She was quiet for a moment then crossed her arms at her chest. “And you thought the best way of dealing with that was to not say a word and avoid me for days?”

“Well, I am not exactly accustomed to the idea of a friend falling for me,” he replied defensively, his embarrassment growing. “I am barely used to the idea of having a friend at all.”

“What made you think I was in love with you?”

“Well, you-” he began, but then it finally clicked where he’d seen her shawl before. It was not hers at all; it was Maximoff’s. He buried his face in his hands and groaned, “Norns; I am an  _ idiot.” _

In all his panic over her possibly misinterpreting his intentions, it never occurred to him that he might be misinterpreting  _ hers. _ When he swallowed his mortification enough to look back up, she was smiling at him knowingly, and it occurred to him that he had likely made the same mistake Thor had mentioned he’d made.

“It was the shirt, wasn’t it?” He wordlessly nodded, feeling his face growing very warm, and she chuckled. “Your brother thought that, too; I’m starting to think you Asgardians are very particular about your clothes.”

“I am so sorry; I should not have assumed…”

“The assumption wasn’t so much the problem, as the way you handled it. At least Thor had the sense to talk to me.” He hung his head in shame and she reached up to take his face between her hands, leaning up to press a kiss to his forehead. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I cannot apologise enough.”

“Sure you can,” she countered easily, “As soon as you start annoying me; that’s enough.”

He laughed then, and nodded. “I suppose that is true,” he conceded. “I have to ask, though. When I, for reasons I cannot understand, brought up my assumption about you to Thor; he told me that you were ‘not the type’, though he refused to elaborate. May I ask what he meant?”

“Oh, well, I don’t really…  _ do _ romance.” At his puzzled look, she elaborated, “I don’t feel romantic feelings, at all; never have, probably never will.”

He nodded in understanding. “I see.”

“So we’re clear; you  _ don’t _ feel that way about me, right?”

“Norns, no,” he replied emphatically, looking faintly disturbed by the thought.

“Awesome.”

There was silence for a moment. “So, we are… alright, then?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Almost.”

“What else do I need to do?” he asked earnestly, wanting nothing more than to put this all behind them.

“You’re going to have to start being nicer to Wanda.”

He blinked then stared at her for a long while, trying to gauge how serious she was being, then sighed. “Fine.”

  
She grinned widely. “ _ Now _ we’re okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'mma be real with y'all; I'll be writing more for this 'verse at some point. I didn't get the chance to address everything I wanted to, but it just wouldn't flow right if I tried. This should not be surprising if you've read enough of my work. XD


End file.
